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County Panel Rejects Malibu Hotel Project

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Times Staff Writer

For the second week in a row, the county Regional Planning Commission has rejected a major project in Malibu, voting Wednesday against construction of a 410-room, five-story hotel in the Civic Center that commission members said does not fit into the rural character of the coastal community.

“That’s two wins in two weeks,” said Sara Wan, who represented the 1,000-member Malibu Township Council at the hearing in downtown Los Angeles. “I think the commission is becoming more cognizant of the homeowners. Prior to this, they have just done anything the developers wanted.”

Since January, when the County Board of Supervisors approved construction of a regional sewer system in Malibu, “there has been almost a feeding frenzy” by developers hoping to get approval of their projects, Wan said. Developers seem to be trying to beat a vote on Malibu cityhood, which could be on the ballot as early as November, she said.

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But last week, in a surprise move, the Planning Commission branded as “completely inappropriate” a proposal to build 62 single-family homes, a golf course and restaurant in the hills of western Malibu.

This week, the commissioners refused to alter the Malibu land-use plan to allow construction of the luxury hotel on a hillside immediately east of the Civic Center. They said it would jeopardize the quality of life for property owners whose homes border the 18-acre parcel.

“Other than testimony that the hotel should be on a hillside because the view is important, I have heard nothing about why we should approve a plan amendment,” Commissioner Sadie B. Clark said.

No Sewer System

Comments of other commission members were harsher.

“It’s not only premature, but--I hesitate to use the word--ridiculous” to propose the hotel without a sewer system being in place to serve it, said Clinton C. Ternstrom, commission chairman.

Bob Mahoney of Long Beach, who hopes to develop the hotel for three Florida businessmen, said he was not sure whether he would appeal the commission’s denial to the Board of Supervisors, whose conservative majority generally has favored development in Malibu.

“I have a lot of concerns,” Mahoney said. “We were just sent back to the drawing board.”

His project, Mahoney had argued, would place 110 apartment-like “villas” on the bottom of the site, away from homes and include a 300-room hotel on a natural bowl-shaped slope. This design would block no homeowner views and would buffer some of the noise from the villas below.

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He noted in an interview that even without a change in the land-use plan, he can build a small hotel on the lower six acres of the cone-shaped hillside parcel and condominiums on the upper 12 acres, near existing homes.

‘A Cheesy Motel’

“Malibu could get a cheesy motel and 220 condominium units all over the hillside,” said architect Larry Stricker, who designed the hotel project.

During the two-hour hearing, project engineer Carl Hinderer argued that the county has approved three hotel projects for the Malibu area in recent years, including a 300-room facility by the Adamson Cos. on a nearby site. That hotel, however, cannot be built until a planned regional sewer system is in place. A smaller hotel is now being built near the Malibu Pier.

“One of the crying needs in Malibu has been for (a) hotel,” Hinderer said.

But commissioners did not agree. They refused to allow the developer to show slides of the proposed project, then denied his request for a continuance of the hearing.

They were especially disturbed by the developer’s request for “bonus density,” a county procedure that allows extra dwellings to be built if 20% are reserved for low- or moderate-income residents.

“I almost can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Commissioner Lee Strong said. He said that the developer had presented a plan that was 100% commercial, inaccurately described his villa rentals as residential units instead of hotel rooms, “then asked us to bend the rules” to allow 110 villas instead of the 88 possible under rules for residential development.

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“I think you are insulting my intelligence,” Strong said. “How do you justify a density bonus?”

The developer withdrew that request, and also agreed to build a small sewer plant for the hotel. But commissioners rejected the offer.

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